After a heartwarming tribute to the late WWE Hall of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Seth Rollins entered the ring with a smug smile proclaiming that his only flaw is that he’s too sympathetic because he didn’t finish the job after he broke John Cena’s nose. While sporting a sardonic t-shirt stating “U Can’t C Knee”, Rollins not only issued an Open Challenge to the locker room–so long as the opponent was below 6-feet and under 200-lbs–but he also issued a challenge to John Cena for the now 4-hour spectacular SummerSlam. A winner takes all match, where both the WWE World Heavyweight and WWE United States championships will be on the line. And for the first time in history, the winner will hold both championships at the same time.

Sound familiar? Well it should because back on June 19 at Studio 5 in New York, NY, Ring of Honor’s Best in the World main event pit the ROH World champion Jay Briscoe against the ROH World TV champion Jay Lethal in a Battle of the Belts. Lethal became the undisputed ROH champion, winning his first World championship in the process. And now we have ROH Alumni Seth Rollins issuing the same concept for SummerSlam? Sounds like WWE is trying to stick it to ROH.

It’s well-known that Ring of Honor has been a breeding ground for excellence. Just by looking at the current WWE roster, along with Rollins, most of the main players have come from ROH: Daniel Bryan, Cesaro, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Samoa Joe. So why would WWE want to stick it to ROH when they should be grateful? Simply put, Vince loves competition.

On August 22, NXT Takeover will broadcast live on the WWE Network out of the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, NY. But on that same night, Ring of Honor will be hosting “Field of Honor” a live event at MCU Park, also in Brooklyn. Rumor is… Ring of Honor officials already knew that NXT would be performing on the same night as their show, but didn’t know it would be a Takeover Special. The Takeover special will feature the rematch from WWE Beast in the East – Finn Bálor defending the NXT championship against Kevin Owens. ROH will not be featuring a championship bout at Field of Honor, instead it will showcase a tag team main event: ROH World & World TV Champion Jay Lethal & “King of Strong Style” Shinsuke Nakamura vs reDRagon.

This battle of shows in Brooklyn reminds me of a night back in 2011 when ROH and WWE butted heads in Manhattan just a block away from one another. ROH had the earlier show billed as “Manhattan Mayhem IV” and WWE had their house show in the famous Madison Square Garden a few hours later. Most fans that night had tickets to both shows, including myself. But this night also marked my biggest regret. Just minutes before WWE Live was to start, ROH’s main event ran purposely into WWE’s start time. This was a testament to whether or not the fans would stay till the end of the show. It was a World championship match between Roderick Strong and Eddie Edwards. And while I was on the line at MSG waiting to get my tickets scanned, I got a call from my friend who decided to stay, to tell me that Eddie Edwards won the ROH World title.

That night, ROH outdid WWE in every possible way, including a surprising championship victory. But that was years ago, and I witnessed Jay Lethal become the Undisputed ROH World champion at Best in the World back in June. Now my sights are set on my first NXT show. And it is going to be memorable.

Question remains… can Seth Rollins and John Cena’s dual-championship bout contend with Jay Briscoe and Jay Lethal’s Battle of the Belts? Only SummerSlam will tell.

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About the blogger: I love pro wrestling and all of its layers of athleticism and entertainment. I also love to read and write, which is why, hopefully, WrestlingTimesX will come across as different, in a better way, than anything else that you read on the web. My mantra on wrestling, in any state, is to love it then, now, and forever.

The All-Night Express (ANX), weeks following their Tag Team championship victory at ROH’s Best in the World, have been stripped from the titles. Ring of Honor’s decision was made after Kenny King’s departure from the company, as he was clearly seen wrestling live for TNA’s Impact Wrestling TV show. And despite King stating that he would come back to ROH to wrestle matches to drop the belts, ROH has declined to do further business with him.

Kenny King, who’s contract with ROH expired on June 24, 2012, wrestled for TNA on July 5 in spite of a verbal agreement made with ROH, in which King was permitted to weigh his options with other promotions on the condition that he didn’t wrestle for them. King had a meeting in Orlando on July 3, which was within the scope of his agreement, but when he contacted an ROH official on the morning of the live Impact TV taping, he was not given permission as it violated the agreement. King’s response was that the agreement seemed fair at the time, but others have told him otherwise, so he didn’t intend to honor the agreement.

Kenny King took a risk in jumping ship to TNA while burning bridges with ROH. Especially after Ring of Honor decided to place the belts on ANX at Best in the World. But that’s the life of a professional wrestler, because unlike the “independent contractor” status in the WWE, Kenny King, and all independent wrestlers, are independent on their career paths.

After defeating Lars Only to qualify for TNA X Division championship tournament at Destination X, Kenny King was seen talking backstage to Austin Aries, telling him that he wishes to follow in his footsteps. Aries, who was released from Ring of Honor in October 2010 due to cutbacks, worked his way through Dragon Gate USA and Evolve before returning to TNA in June 2011. In one year’s time Aries went from a guy fighting for a contract to the top guy on a national stage, so for Kenny King to want the same for himself isn’t selfish. Kenny saw an opportunity and he took it.

However, Kenny King wasn’t the only one stripped of the tag team titles, Rhett Titus was stripped as well. Titus, who debuted in Ring of Honor in 2006, started teaming with King in 2009. And his partnership with King was fulfilled at Best in the World, but after 16 days, Rhett is without his championship.

So if anyone should be upset at Kenny’s departure, it’s Rhett Titus. But does Kenny King feel bad about that? Would Shawn Michaels have become the Legend that he is if he didn’t sever ties with his tag team partner? That’s the business of professional wrestling, if Kenny’s decision to wrestle for TNA makes him millions of dollars, then good for him.

Kenny King, much like Austin Aries, deserves to showcase his skills on a bigger stage.

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